While your application form briefly outlines your qualifications, skills and work experience, your teaching personal statement is where your personality shines through. Take your time with it, be prepared to receive constructive feedback and write a few drafts before you send it off. While it's crucial to get it right, your teaching personal statement is only a small part of the application process.
Find out how else you'll need to prepare to get a teaching job. The personal statement allows for up to 4, characters 47 lines of text with an introduction, main body and conclusion. Your opening sentence should be memorable, but without being overly dramatic or unoriginal - a good way to start your statement is by explaining what inspired you to get into teaching.
There's no single way to structure the main body of your personal statement, but make sure every point you make is supported by evidence and you've explained its significance. If you mention some work experience, be sure to explain what you learned and how this experience will help you in your career. If you're discussing your skills, provide examples of where you gained them and how you'll apply them to the classroom.
Your conclusion should reinforce your enthusiasm and drive for a career in teaching, acknowledging the commitment and hard work it will require but also showing your excitement and anticipation for getting started.
Don't waste valuable space talking about a specific university or school, as you can only submit one personal statement for all of your choices. Luckily, as all training providers are looking for similar information from you, this shouldn't be a problem.
See personal statements for postgraduate applications for more guidance. When planning out your personal statement, ask yourself what it is your training providers are looking for.
Make sure your statement answers the following questions:. Instructors at all levels find that writing their statement helps them develop as teachers, since it entails making their implicit views on teaching and student learning explicit and comparing those views to actual teaching practice.
Along with teaching statements, many colleges and universities now consider diversity statements during faculty hiring and promotion. As this practice becomes more commonplace, we offer a selection of resources to help guide professionals interested in writing and improving their own statements on diversity. Ann Arbor, MI Resource Title:. Includes links and exercises to help readers reflect upon their teaching philosophy. The first time you write a teaching statement is often in the context of an application for an academic job or teaching position.
The sections below offer guidelines to help you prepare, write, and revise your own teaching statement. An effective teaching statement involves both reflection and research. Thinking about your teaching and your goals can be helpful before you begin writing or revising your teaching statement. This process can also prepare you for interview questions that address teaching, should your application lead to an interview. Before you begin writing your teaching statement, it can be useful to think more generally about your teaching philosophy.
For some general brainstorming strategies, you can consult our Brainstorming handout; the following questions will help you brainstorm more specifically about your teaching philosophy:. Looking at sample teaching statements can give you a better sense of the genre and can help you determine what elements you would like to include in your own teaching statement.
Students in your program, recent graduates, and professors may be willing to share models, and many examples are also available online through libraries and faculty resource centers. As you look at sample teaching statements, think about what you do or do not like about each statement. The following questions can help you determine how you might construct your own statement.
Different institutions will have different teaching cultures and, therefore, will value different types of teaching statements. For example, a research university and a community college may have different approaches to teaching, so the same teaching statement is unlikely to appeal to both institutions.
Instead, you should try to tailor your teaching statement to each individual institution and department to which you are applying. As a first step, you can explore the institution and department websites to learn how much emphasis they place on teaching. You might also research the department faculty, their areas of expertise, and the courses they have recently taught.
Without making assumptions, you can ask yourself:. Because teaching statements are variable in design and structure, you will have many choices to make during the drafting process. Teaching Statements Print Version What is a teaching statement? What purposes does the teaching statement serve?
What does a teaching statement include? General Guidelines Reflection questions to help get you started Exercises to help get you started Evaluating your teaching statement Further resources What is a Teaching Statement? What Purposes does the Teaching Statement Serve? While Teaching Statements are probably longer at the tenure level i. Use narrative , first-person approach. This allows the Teaching Statement to be both personal and reflective. Be sincere and unique. Make it specific rather than abstract.
Ground your ideas in concrete examples , whether experienced or anticipated. This will help the reader to better visualize you in the classroom.
Be discipline specific.
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